King David's suburban palace?

My osteopath, and her husband, have just come back from a holiday in Israel. To say that I am envious would be an understatement. I may not be Jewish, but 'Next Year in Jerusalem' has its own meaning for me. See: First-steps-in-Zionism   and related posts. Today, whilst inflicting osteopathic torture on my back and shoulder, she commented that there was a great deal of archaeological discovery in Israel that we never hear about. I've commented on that before See: Your-own-worst-enemy-and-this-friend-is-spitting-fire

As a Bible teacher and preacher, I like to point to a verse or passage and link it to some piece of archaeology. It helps to answer the sceptics and to build up the faithful.  Maybe the message in 'Your own worst enemy' has got through, because today there was a major announcement from The Israeli Antiquities Authority here.

Even if this was not David's palace, it's in the right place at the right time and it's Jewish.  If you don't believe in David and Goliath, the record shows that the Philistines (related to the Greeks, Romans, Trojans and Cretans - not Arabs) were a problem, so it's a good place for a stronghold. 1 Samuel 17:52 (Sha-ara'im)

If you read the Biblical record, it is fairly obvious that Goliath's family suffered from two genetic disorders; hexadactyly and gigantism.

All we need now is for someone to discover a large headless skeleton... but will they tell us?

As quoted from Israel Today:

Experts said the large structures found at a dig near the town of Beit Shemesh are clearly a royal facility, and appear to have been constructed for residence.
The remains are part of what is believed to be the biblical town of Sha'arayim, and date to the tenth century BC, the time that David was ruling in nearby Jerusalem.
In later centuries, the site was used by Bedouin tribes who even referred to the location as Khirbat Daoud, or David's Ruins.

For anyone wanting the heavy duty scholarship go here and for some of the consequences here.